1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to telecommunications equipment and, in particular, to enclosures for housing and protecting telecommunications equipment.
2. Description of the Related Art
A building entrance protector (BEP) is an enclosure used to house and protect telecommunications equipment. For example, a BEP may house the components used to interface between a multi-wire cable providing telephone service to a building and the twisted pairs of copper wire for individual telephones distributed throughout the building. These interface components may include splicing connectors used to break out pairs of wires from a multi-wire cable, as well as electrical isolation interface components, such as protector panels used to receive high-voltage/high-current plug-in protectors, and connectors, such as insulation displacement connectors (IDCs), used to terminate twisted pairs from individual telephones. The BEP may have two or more hinged pieces that define one or more different compartments within the BEP for such functions as breaking out twisted pairs of wires from the multi-wire cable, connecting the twisted pairs to electrical isolation components, connecting the electrical isolation components to IDC connectors, and terminating the twisted pairs at the IDC connectors.
A splicing connector is designed to terminate a certain maximum number of twisted pairs from a cable. Similarly, a protector panel is designed to receive a certain maximum number of plug-in protectors, each of which corresponds to a single twisted pair. An efficient design for a building entrance protector will accommodate splicing connectors and protector panels that handle the same maximum number of twisted pairs. In addition, the larger the maximum number of twisted pairs that can be handled, the greater the variety of applications for which the BEP can be used.